The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Braves sweep Diamondbacks
Victory puts team at .500 as Cubs come to town.
It had been more than two years since the Braves held a non-losing record beyond the first dozen games of a season. On Sunday, they ended that stretch in convincing fashion while pitcher Jaime Garcia ended his own recent skid.
Brandon Phillips had three doubles, the Matts — Kemp and Adams — hit home runs in a four-run third inning and Garcia pitched seven strong innings in a 7-1 win against the Arizona Diamond- backs at SunTrust Park.
The Braves got back to .500 (45-45) and completed a sweep against a team with the fourthbest record in the majors.
“It was fun,” said Kemp, whose three-run homer in the third gave the Braves a 5-0 lead. “That’s a good team we swept. We’ve just got to keep going. We’ve got another tough series coming up tomorrow. It’s time to enjoy this tonight and turn the page tomorrow and get ready for the Cubs.”
Sweep continued on C8
The Braves have won 16 of their past 24 games and reached .500 for the first time since their 6-6 start this season. It’s also the first time they’ve been there later than April since they were 42-42 on July 7, 2015.
With the defending World Series champion Cubs arriving for a three-game series, the Braves will try to get above .500 for the first time since June 1, 2015, when they were 26-25.
They were last above .500 after the All-Star break on Sept. 14, 2014, when they had a 75-74 record.
“Can’t say enough about what they did the last three days,” manager Brian Snitker said. “A lot of good things happening. Guys are playing with a lot of energy, a lot of confidence. It’s a big start by Jaime. That was a shot in the arm, him covering those innings and doing what he did.”
While a .500 record represents significant progress, Kemp and Freddie Freeman said the Braves are aiming higher.
“That’s a step in the right direction,” Kemp said. “Still got a long way to go. Just got to keep it going, keep playing good baseball, one game at a time.”
The Braves plan to activate versatile veterans Sean Rodriguez and Danny Santana from the disabled list before today’s series opener against the Cubs, who beat the Orioles 8-0 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of their own.
“We’ve got some reinforcements coming at the right time,” Freeman said. “So getting back to .500 is huge and hopefully we can start getting closer to the wild card. One step at a time. We saw what the Cubs just did at Baltimore. We’ve got our hands full.”
Garcia (3-7, 4.33 ERA) snapped a seven-start winless streak, allowing just four hits, one run and three walks with seven strikeouts in seven innings. He had been 0-4 with a 6.87 ERA since the beginning of June and had a 9.41 ERA over his past four starts.
“It was nice to get the W, but even better for the team to get a win,” Garcia said. “We were able to win three against a really good team. Everybody’s playing really well right now. Just got to continue to get ready for the next one.”
The left-hander likely boosted his trade value when he didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning and didn’t allow any extrabase hits. Garcia is in the final year of his contract and was expected to be dealt before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, though his recent woes seemed to cool trade rumors.
The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Ender Inciarte led off with a single and Phillips drove him in with the first of his doubles. It was the first three-double day of the Redan High School graduate’s 16-year career.
They added another run in the second inning after Adams reached base on a wild-pitch third strike and Dansby Swanson hit an infield single that ended with an errant throw and Adams scoring from second base.
The slim margin grew quickly in the third inning with the homer from Kemp and a solo shot two batters later from Adams. Phillips started the inning with a double and added another RBI double in the fourth.
The two-homer third inning was the first two-homer inning for the Braves since June 22, when Phillips and Lane Adams homered in the eight-run fifth inning of a 12-11 win against the Giants at SunTrust Park.
Kemp’s three-run homer was his 13th of the season and first in 16 games since June 21 against San Francisco. He hit .197 (12-for-61) with one extra-base hit and a .471 OPS in his past 16 games before Sunday.
“Yeah, guys been giving me a hard time about not hitting the ball out of the ballpark,” he said, smiling. “So it felt good to get that one and put the squad up.”
Adams’ 15th home run gave him two in his past four games after an 11-game drought. It was his 14th homer for the Braves in 46 games since being acquired from St. Louis.
After driving in just one run during an 11-game stretch from June 23 through July 7, Adams has six RBIs in his past four games on a pair of three-run homers.